Lessons From Bootstrapping To $25M+

Welcome to this issue of The Austin Business Review, a weekly roundup of great local events and insights for Austin business owners (plus some other cool stuff for your life outside of work).

This one, I’m excited for.

A big focus this year is “More People.” I want to tell more stories of cool neighbors you didn’t know you had, and help you tap into their hard-won insights.

We’re kicking it off with Mathias Ihlenfeld, who bootstrapped Woom Bikes to $20M+ before raising double-digit millions to take the brand global. Down below, he shares the kinds of things no one ever talks about (like when he was running an 8-figure business, but too broke to fix his own dishwasher).

2026 is going to be the year of unlocking more human connection here. I’m stoked to have you as part of that.

-Ethan

PS. I listed this in the events section, but Mathias is organizing a small mastermind here in town for later-stage business owners ($7M+). There’s a preliminary meet & greet Jan. 15th for founders interested in more info, and you can find all the details here.

Upcoming Events

🗓️ TONIGHT: Acquire & Invest Happy Hour: Always a reader favorite – Dan Jensen, Yvette Owo, and Henry Carter’s monthly happy hour for people who buy businesses

🗓️ Jan. 9: Coffee & Connect: For those of you out west who are tired of going downtown for events, West Austin Chamber is hosting their monthly coffee meetup

🗓️ Jan. 13: AI and the Future of Internal Productivity: Dianne Erwin and Aracely Gonzalez are gathering founders & CXOs for this off-the-record discussion

🗓️ Jan. 13: Lead with Confidence: Melinda Stallings has presented at both Harvard and NASDAQ and will lead this session on leaderships and communication

🗓️ Jan. 14: Metropolitan Breakfast Club: Jeremy Martin, President & CEO, Greater Austin Chamber, is speaking

🗓️ Jan. 14: Lead without Burning Out: The National Association for Women Business Owners is kicking off the year with this session from Jayme Shiarla

🗓️ Jan. 14: Stanford Angels: Stanford Alums, Sean Voigt hosts the local chapter of their Angel & Entrepreneur network

🗓️ Jan. 15: The Birthing of Giants: Multi-time Inc. 5000 winner, Mathias Ihlenfeld is starting a local chapter of this mastermind for later-stage founders

🗓️ Jan. 15: Female Leaders of Austin: Eva Wolf is joining to teach a social media marketing workshop specifically for service-based founders

🗓️ Jan. 15: Distiller Series: Chris Taylor is bringing Aaron Day, founder of Revolution Spirits, out to the Red Fridge to tell his story (and lead a tasting)

🗓️ Jan. 15: After Hours - Design Thinking: Sara Loretta’s bringing together an intimate group to talk about improving customer journeys with Design Thinking

🗓️ Jan. 15: The Table Network: This one’s actually new to me (but I see a lot of great faces I recognize on Zac Tinney’s Instagram sooo… worth checking out?)

🗓️ Jan. 16: Trail Talks: Pat Killoren and Sam Huntington, both killer podcast hosts here in town, starting the year off strong with their trail walk series

🗓️ Jan. 16: Female Founders & Friends: Hosted the third Friday every month by Juliette Richert of the Artemis Fund

🗓️ Jan. 16: Planning Palooza: Texas Women In Business is curating a roundtable discussion on: “What do you wish women’s business groups talked about more?”

Other Fun Stuff Coming Up

This weekend (Jan. 9-10) is Free Week here in Austin! A local tradition to support the bars during the winter lull. More than a dozen venues are bringing in dozens of artists for a free, sprawling, winter music festival. So check it out 🤘

Elsewhere, we’ve got…

• TONIGHT: PowerPints - drink and learn stuff

• Jan. 9: Eloise Carter, Live at Monk’s Jazz Club

• Jan. 9-10: Stomp, 30-Year Anniversary at Bass Concert Hall

• Jan. 10: Yoga & Vision Board Workshop

• Jan 10-11: East Austin Cello Fest

• Jan. 10-11: Citywide Vintage Sale

• Jan. 11: How To Add Pockets To (Almost) Anything

• Jan. 11: Pour It Forward - Wine Tasting Benefiting Central TX Food Bank

• Jan. 12: Woodworkers – Open Bench Night at Austin School of Furniture

• Jan. 12: The ATX Short Film Showcase

• Jan. 15: Winter Candle Making at UMLAUF Sculpture Garden

• Jan. 16: Ramen Bowl Building at Rosa Pottery

• Jan. 16: French Macaron Class at Jo’s Downtown

• Jan. 16-17: Colter Wall and Hayden Redwine, Live at ACL

• Jan 16-17: The Improvised Shakespeare Company

• Jan. 18: Roosevelt Room Masterclass Series - Tequila

• Jan. 18: Foodies & Fears - Dinner with Paranormies Austin

“I remember thinking: I'm building a $20 million business and I can't afford to replace a dishwasher. Something's off here."

Lessons from Mathias Ihlenfeld on Bootstrapping To $20M+

You know those balance bikes you see kids scooting along on before they learn to ride? The ones that have become so popular over the last few years?

This guy did that.

Mathias Ihlenfeld bootstrapped Woom Bikes to $20M+, landing multiple spots on the Inc. 5000, then merged with his European counterpart, raised double-digit millions, and led the $100M global brand as CEO.

I first came across Mathias via a talk he did at the Metropolitan Breakfast Club. He’s one of those founders who’s open about both the wins and the hard times, and I’ve been wanting to do this spotlight for months.

Without further ado, here’s Mathias…

1. Okay, tell us about your business! What's the backstory? And how did you get your first customer. 

In 2013, a small package arrived at my Austin home that would change everything. Inside was a balance bike. One of the very first my brother Marcus and his co-founder Christian Bezdeka had built in their Vienna garage. It was a first birthday gift for my son Luca (shown in photo), flown over by my dad from Austria.

The moment I saw it, I knew. As a lifelong cycling fan, I could tell immediately: the design, the weight, the engineering—this was the real deal. This was something SPECIAL.

Luca was still too young to ride it at first, but within months, he was coasting down our street, grinning ear to ear while I jogged beside him. That's when everything shifted.

One day, a neighbor named Loren stopped in his tracks watching Luca roll by. "Wow," he said. "This is a really cool bike. My daughter needs one of these." No questions about price. No hesitation. Just immediate, instinctive demand.

I told him I could get him one—I'd just have to call my brother in Vienna to build and ship it over. That was my first sale. Lauren didn't even ask how much it cost; he just had to have it. Over the next eight years, he'd go on to buy six woom bikes for his two kids.

That moment told me everything I needed to know.

Back in Vienna, woom had only launched a year earlier. Marcus and I had worked together before, so partnering felt natural. But I was also ready for something new—I'd been running a successful consulting practice and felt the pull of a fresh challenge.

In April 2014, I officially registered woom bikes USA LLC. What started with one neighbor asking about a bike grew into something I couldn't have imagined: I bootstrapped the brand to $25M within 5 years, eventually merged into a $100M+ global business, and raised double-digit millions to fuel the next stage of growth. But none of that was a straight line. It was filled with skepticism, cash flow crunches, long nights, and plenty of grit.

2. What’s one unconventional decision you made early in your business that you believe set you apart from competitors, and how do you think it shaped your trajectory?

We went direct-to-consumer, online only. No bike shops. No retailers. Just us and the customer.

In 2014, that was borderline crazy—especially for kids' bikes. Everyone told me it wouldn't work. My business advisor at the Small Business Development Center said parents would never spend $350 on a bike their kids couldn't touch, feel, or test ride first. A professor I respected from my MBA program said the same thing. Even a fellow entrepreneur I looked up to told me on a ride through east Austin that the model was too complex and wouldn't scale.

They all had the same concern: kids' bikes are tactile purchases. Parents want to see their child sit on it, grip the handlebars, feel the weight. Selling that experience online felt like asking someone to buy shoes without trying them on—but for their kid.

But I'd already seen something they hadn't. I'd watched my neighbor Loren stop in his tracks when he saw my son Luca riding his woom bike. He didn't ask to test it. He didn't need to compare it in a store. He just said, "My daughter needs one of these." That immediate, instinctive demand told me everything.

Going direct allowed us to control the entire experience—from the first click to the moment the bike arrived at someone's door. We could educate parents on why these bikes were different, share stories from other families, and build a community around the product. We weren't competing on shelf space or relying on a sales associate to explain why a $350 kids' bike was worth it.

It also meant we could move fast. No negotiating with retailers. No splitting margins. Every dollar we saved went back into the product, the growth, and the customer experience.

That decision shaped everything. It forced us to get really good at telling our story, building trust online, and creating an experience so seamless that parents felt confident hitting "buy" sight unseen. And it worked—we became the fastest-growing cycling brand in the U.S. while everyone else was still fighting for retail placement.

Looking back, I realize the doubters weren't wrong to be skeptical. They were applying old rules to a new game. And sometimes, that's exactly where opportunity lives.

3. What’s one book most people have never even heard of that you think is worth reading. (DIG DEEP - we’re looking for the books you’ll never see on the NYT list)

Who's Your Mike? by Kurt Wilkin.

Kurt is a very good friend, Austin entrepreneur, investor, and connector and he wrote the book I wish I'd had when I was scaling woom.

Here's the reality: growing a business is tough. You start off by cobbling together a team of self-starters willing to bust their asses for the company. Those scrappy teams fit perfectly in your startup culture. But what happens when you reach $20 million in revenue, or $40 or $50 million—and those same dedicated employees are holding you back?

Let's face it, sometimes your needs exceed their abilities. People decisions are hard, especially if they're close to us. As a result, many entrepreneurs tiptoe around these issues—and we end up learning many lessons the hard way.

Kurt doesn't sugarcoat it. It's raw, funny, and full of real stories from entrepreneurs who've been in the trenches. The "people part" of business is the hardest part—and this book gives you permission to make the tough calls without guilt.

4. What’s one belief about entrepreneurship you held when you started that you’ve completely abandoned, and what made you change your mind?

I used to believe I should bootstrap as long as I possibly could. That taking outside capital meant giving up control or somehow taking the "easy way out."

When I started woom bikes USA in 2014, I was all-in on self-funding. I sold my condo. I emptied my retirement accounts. I maxed out eight credit cards. I didn't take a salary for years. In 2017, our dishwasher broke and I couldn't afford to fix it—so we did dishes by hand for months while I was working two jobs and trying to keep the business alive.

I wore that sacrifice like a badge of honor. I thought that's what "real" entrepreneurship looked like—betting everything, refusing to give up equity, proving you could do it on your own terms.

But here's what I didn't understand: there's a difference between being resourceful and being unnecessarily stubborn.

The shift came gradually. We were growing 300% year-over-year, but the cash flow was relentless. We had to pay 50% upfront for inventory six months before it shipped, another 50% when it left the factory, and we wouldn't see revenue for months. Every growth spike meant another scramble for capital.

I remember thinking: "I'm building a $20 million business and I can't afford to replace a dishwasher. Something's off here."

The belief that I should bootstrap as long as I possibly could wasn't serving the business—or me. It was just stubbornness dressed up as principle.

In 2018, I secured a $2 million SBA loan after months of documentation and financial modeling. It gave us breathing room to grow without constantly fighting fires. Eventually, I raised double-digit millions from investors to fuel the next stage.

Here's what changed my mind: the right capital, at the right time, isn't giving up control—it's choosing sustainable growth over unnecessary struggle. Your job as a founder isn't to prove you can do it all yourself. It's to build something that lasts.

I'm still proud of those early years—the grit, the sacrifice, the resourcefulness. But I learned that being "all in" doesn't have to mean making it harder than it needs to be.

5. What’s one purchase of less than $1,000 that’s made the biggest impact on your happiness, health, or wealth?

A two-day meditation retreat in Liberty Hill, Texas. Cost me less than $500. Gave me my WHY.

At the time, I was running hard—building, scaling, proving. Success on paper, but something was missing. My coach suggested a retreat. I wasn't the "retreat type," but I said yes anyway.

What happened that day changed everything. Through guided meditation and breathwork, I finally stopped long enough to ask the question I'd been avoiding: Why am I doing all of this?

And the answer came clearly: My WHY isn't building companies. It's inspiring others to become the best version of themselves.

That single insight unlocked everything. I started coaching, advising, and mentoring founders and leaders. Created The RECLAIM Code. Started leading the Birthing of Giants cohort. Found my true calling in helping others find theirs.

That $500 retreat didn't just change my trajectory—it gave me clarity on why I'm here.

6. Are you married? If so, how’d you meet your spouse, and what role have they played in your entrepreneurial journey?

I'm not married, but I've been in a deeply committed partnership with Doralicia since 2023. We live together in our beautiful home in Allandale with my two kids—Luca (13) and Sofia (11)—who I have 100% of the time.

I went through a difficult divorce in 2021. It was one of the hardest periods of my life, but it forced me to do the deep work I'd been avoiding. I invested in coaches and mentors, worked through programs focused on healing and growth, and honestly examined who I had become and who I wanted to be. That process was painful, but it transformed me. I came out of it as a better version of myself—clearer, more grounded, and finally ready to find the right partner.

That journey became the foundation for The RECLAIM Code, one of my passion projects. It's a framework I created to help others navigate divorce and optimize their lives after; because I know firsthand how isolating and identity-shaking that transition can be.

Doralicia has been a tremendous supporter of my entrepreneurial journey and vision. She understands that my mission isn't just about business; it's about helping people become the best version of themselves. Whether it's one-on-one coaching with business owners, building my Birthing of Giants cohort, or guiding someone through post-divorce transformation with The RECLAIM Code, she sees the work and believes in it.

Having a partner who truly supports your vision doesn't just make life easier. It makes the work more meaningful.

You can find out more about what Mathias is up to by connecting with him on LinkedIn, or signing up for his newsletter.

And if you’re in that small handful of later-stage founders who are looking for a peer group, check out the local mastermind he’s building.

That’s all for this week!

Email me here if you want to share any feedback, or let me know about an event you’re hosting.

Until next week,

-Ethan